


When Feelings and Thoughts Collide.

by theatergirl06



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: F/F, I know they're kinda cliche but I love to write them, and the executioners are back, go read my other fic under that tag if you don't know who those are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:33:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23483887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theatergirl06/pseuds/theatergirl06
Summary: Anne Boleyn is finally experiencing the love she's needed for five hundred years. But there's a part of her she's kept hidden in order to keep that love, and her mistakes may be more than she can handle.
Relationships: Anne Boleyn/Catherine Parr, Anne of Cleves/Katherine Howard
Comments: 5
Kudos: 103





	1. The Consequences of Hiding Me.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her thoughts are weighing on her more than usual this morning, and she doesn't know why. But something is about to go wrong.
> 
> TW for mentions of domestic abuse and swearing.

Anne Boleyn was a gremlin. A chaotic force in the world of the queens, and one that was constantly in some sort of trouble. She had a wild imagination and a knack for scheming. Though she annoyed the hell out almost all the queens at times, she was beloved by them all. And she was much happier for it, because she’d never been beloved for her chaos before. 

But there was one tiny little problem. Or, more accurately, it was a big problem.

All of it was a lie.

Well, no, not all of it was a lie. She just had a secret. A big one. 

Anne was a nerd. A smart one, too. At night, she stayed up in the corners of her room and did math problems for fun. She’d made a project out of reading every book on the “Top 500 books of all time” list she’d found on the internet. She wrote realistic fiction stories about middle school girls when the others thought she was sleeping in. These were all good things, she knew, but she just couldn’t share them. 

But she didn’t show any of that. She pretended to be a complete dumbass. And while she loved getting to be her chaotic self, she couldn’t help but feel that part of her was missing. 

She wanted to believe that the other queens would be supportive if they found out about this. She really did. And they had done nothing to prove otherwise. But...when they’d returned and written their show, the decision had been made to personify her as silly and chaotic, to contrast history’s view as a manipulator. But that had been the beginning, and so that was what the other queens had believed about her. And then they had come to love her for it. The first love she’d felt in 500 years. She didn’t want to risk losing that, not ever. Not even if she had to hide part of herself. 

There was also the other reason, the one she  _ really  _ didn’t want to admit. She’d teased Cathy Parr for being a nerd so many times, and though the final wife usually laughed it off, there had been many times where she had been really hurt.

If she found out Anne was a hypocrite and a bully, she would never even  _ consider… _

But those thoughts were just silly. 

These thoughts were weighing on Anne’s mind even more than usual as the queens set out for a group interview on a grey, gloomy Saturday morning. All of them were in rather low spirits, mostly due to the fact that none of them had gotten enough sleep the night before after Jane has suggested a “quick thunderstorm party” that had turned into an hours long affair. 

It had originally been the plan (created by Kat and Anna) that they would take a nice walk across town to the interview site, stop at their favorite bakery along the way, and maybe even take the path through the park if they had the time. 

However, it had become abundantly clear that none of them were in the mood to walk anywhere. Catherine had already snapped at three different people, Anne herself had resorted to playing some of her less-nice pranks, Jane was practically falling asleep on Catherine’s shoulder, Anna refused to speak to anyone, Kat was staring off into space with a hazy look in her eyes, and Cathy had outright refused to speak to anyone before she got her coffee (for their own safety, she’d claimed). 

So instead of walking through the park, six very tired and grumpy queens ended up in line at a Starbucks right across from the interview building. 

Anne already pitied the poor employee who had to deal with all of them.

And in the next few minutes, her concerns all proved right. She watched Catherine snap at the employee for asking if she wanted sugar in her black coffee, because, as she put it “sugar is for wimps!” She watched Jane hold up the entire line by wondering about tea production and the treatment of workers. She sighed as Anna asked for “a coffee” and refused to choose a type. She grinned as Kat ordered her Venti Unicorn Frappuccino with no coffee and paid for three more in advance. She laughed as Cathy gave the barista a completely ordinary order and the barista looked like she was about to faint across the counter with relief.

She heard the other queens groaning as she yelled and swore at the barista for refusing to give her ten shots of coffee.

Starbucks was always an ordeal with the six of them.

But at least they all had their drinks now. 

Catherine was looking across the street at the interview building, frowning as she sipped her black coffee with, of course, no sugar.

“We’ve been here before, haven’t we?” 

Cathy walked up next to her, taking a sip out of her coffee with cream. “Yeah, I think so. This is that one that tried really hard to make us look stupid.”

Kat groaned. “Yeah, ugh, I remember this one. They kept asking me why, if all those men I talk about in the show were so bad, why I was ‘too stupid to say no.’”

Anne felt rage fuel up inside of her. She really hated people who hurt her cousin, in any way, shape or form. 

“Do we want to do this interview, then?” asked Jane. “I mean, we already know it’s going to be incredibly unpleasant.”

Catherine sighed. “This place needs twenty-four hour cancellation notice. We have ten minutes.” 

Anna, who hadn’t said anything throughout the conversation, seemed to have directed her focus somewhere else. Upon closer inspection, however, Anne realized that she had fallen asleep while leaning on the window. Kat was staring at her with a very pink blush all over her face and a very adorable “I’m in love” smile. 

They couldn’t do an interview like this. 

“That’s it!” said Anne, marching to the counter. If she’d turned and looked in the mirror at that exact moment, she would have seen a fiery look of determination in her green eyes. She may have been painted as an idiot by the entire world, but she was not going to let that happen to the other queens.

Especially Cathy.

“I’d like six protein smoothie things each with six shots of espresso. I don’t care if it’s not on your menu, we got no sleep last night, and we have to go do an interview with a bunch of assholes. So please just make the damn drinks.”

For a second, Anne was positive the barista was going to throw them all out of the café, but she made the drinks and handed them to Anne, to which the second queen responded with a  _ very  _ large tip. 

To be fair, the poor barista had basically wasted her entire shift dealing with their craziness.

Anne marched over to the other queens with the drinks in her arms.

“Drink up. Now.”

Kat took one sip and made a face. “This is horrible!”

“Oh, you’re only saying that because your mouth is used to sugar after that pink milkshake.”

Catherine took a sip and made a face. “No, she’s right. It’s horrible.”

“But it’s good for you!”

“Some of us don’t care.”

Anne took a sip of her own drink, and immediately wanted to spit it out. It tasted like kale, which was all right, but it tasted like kale that had been cooked the wrong way, with the bitterness of coffee and none of the sweetness. Still, she had bought them. So she tipped her head backwards and downed the entire drink in one gulp, trying not to gag. 

The other queens stared at her. Then Anna grinned.

“I bet I can do that faster.”   
“You wish.”

And then Anna tipped her head back and drank her entire smoothie, finishing with a grin.

“That was faster.”

“No it wasn’t.”

“Technically,” pointed out Cathy, “we don’t know.”

“Whatever,” said Anne. “We’re still cooler than the rest of you.”

Anna put her arm around Kat. “Yeah, babe. Sorry to tell you this, but I’m the cool one now.”

Katherine grinned. “No you’re not!” And with that, she tipped her head back and drank her smoothie in one sip, finishing with a grin almost identical to Anna’s. 

It didn’t take long for Catherine and Cathy to join in on the mini-contest. After they were finished, all five queens turned to Jane expectantly. Jane smiled.

“Actually, I finished my drink before all of you. I quite liked it, actually.”

Anne stared at her in shock. Then she started laughing. Then Anna joined in. Then Cathy. 

So the queens set out across the street towards their interview, still tired, but with more energy than before. But for Anne, she had nerves weighing on her mind. 

She was used to hiding her intelligence at this point, and though it had always bothered her, she’d gotten used to it. She barely even thought about it anymore. So why was it plaguing her thoughts so much this morning?

Was it the interview? These interviewers loved to show off how stupid she was.

Could it just be the fact that she hadn’t gotten any sleep?   
Or...was she falling for a nerd? Falling for her  _ hard.  _

Anne stared at Cathy. She was so amazing. Smart and strong and beautiful and self-assured, and everything Anne wished she could be. 

She felt a sudden yank on the back of her jacket, and she stumbled backwards, then screamed as a speeding car passed directly in front of where she’d been walking. She turned to see an annoyed looking Catherine holding her coat. Blushing, Anne muttered a thank you and kept walking. 

Anna sidled up to Anne and whispered in her ear. 

“Less time staring at Cathy and more time looking at the road, babe.”

Anne blushed. She had told Anna about her feelings for Cathy ages ago, and the German queen, in true best friend fashion, had been able to constantly figure out when she was up for being teased and when she wasn’t. Still, sometimes she just couldn’t resist.

They entered the building and got the interview started. Their interviewer was the same man who had interviewed them last time, and he wasted no time in getting right to the “dirty details.”

“So, Catherine…” 

“Which one?”

The man laughed. “Aragon. Catherine of Aragon. Do you know that some people still believe you’re cursed for marrying your dead ex-husband’s brother?” The question was clearly supposed to shake her up, but the Spanish queen didn’t look rattled at all. 

“Well, actually I didn’t. But here’s what I would say to those people. Back then, marriages were all about political benefit. My parents had complete control of my life from the time I was born. If you’re mad that I married my ex’s brother, take it up with their corpses. Not to mention that many people now remarry after their partners die. People don’t consider  _ that  _ a curse”

Anne applauded in her head. Maybe this interview wouldn’t be so bad. She loved to watch her fellow queens give sassy responses. If only she could give a witty one herself. 

She knew she was being silly, but at the same time, she couldn’t shake her worries from her brain. 

The interviewer, looking ever so slightly annoyed, turned his eyes to Jane, who he probably assumed would be one of the easiest targets. Anne saw Kat tense up and squeeze her mum’s hand. 

“So, Jane, how do you feel about being called submissive and stupid by so many people?” The question was clearly supposed to be a slap in the face, and Anne felt her fists tense up. Next to her, she saw Cathy doing four-second breaths to keep herself calm. 

Jane laughed. “Well, not to be insulting, but I might call those people stupid for not taking a closer look at history. If you did, you’d see how little choice we all had in our marriages. I, for one, started courting the king because of my family, and I know most of my queens here would say the same. When we got married, I was living on the happiness of pleasing my parents. I learned to love Henry because I felt I had to. Then I had Edward, and then I died. Henry never tried to behead or divorce at me, but that’s only because we never really had anything to fight about. That’s not submissive. That’s simply luck.” She said it all in such a sweet tone that it seemed to take the interviewer a few seconds to realize that she was insulting him. He smiled a nasty smile.

“Well, that was a bit harsh, wasn’t it?”

“No,” said Cathy. “It’s simply the truth. It just isn’t what  _ you  _ want to hear.”

The interviewer's face went red with rage. 

“Well, Catherine Parr,” he said. “Then how do you explain that your husband was a rapist?”

Anne’s blood ran cold. She and Cathy rarely spoke about this topic, but it had been dealt with. However, that didn’t mean it wasn’t a sore subject for them both. 

Cathy’s face paled, but it was only noticeable to someone like Anne, who knew her well. 

“I know I can never justify or apologize enough for not stopping him. But for the majority of the time, I didn’t know. And when I did...I’m ashamed of it, but I froze. I could barely believe that the man I loved was capable of something so horrible.”

“So you admit you were a bystander?”

“Not exactly. Domestic abuse is a real problem, even today, and I know now that that’s what was. When you live in a household with domestic abuse, it’s very hard to see that what’s happening to you and your family is wrong. I think many victims today wouldn’t even call themselves that. But if anyone is watching this and my story strikes a chord with you...well, just know that you have the power to get out of this. You’re not helpless.” Cathy finished her story by looking straight into the camera.    
All the queens were shocked. Cathy had never spoken about her past life much at all, and here she was, suddenly diving deep into hard subjects in the middle of an interview. 

The interviewer looked shocked. He clearly hadn’t expected this. But then again, none of them had. 

He turned his head to Anne, clearly looking for a way to embarrass all of them after Cathy’s empowerment speech.

Anne’s stomach churned. They only had five minutes left, and she had to find the perfect thing to say that wasn’t rude, but wasn’t too clever either.

Sometimes the elaborate facade she’d built for herself was absolutely exhausting. 

“Anne,” said the interviewer, “since your daughter was the victim of Cathy’s husband, what do you think about that?” 

Anne’s thoughts turned over and over. Billions of possibilities ran through her mind in a split second. Not too smart, not too offensive, not too stupid. 

“Well, uh…” she struggled to find words. “I mean, a family that’s that hot, how bad could they really be?”

The second the words were out, she clapped the hands over her mouth. She’d only meant to pay Cathy a compliment, but the words had gotten jumbled somewhere on the way from her brain to her throat. And they’d come out sounding...sounding like that.

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she hid them as best as she could. The camera was still on, but the interview was over. Everyone was staring in shock. The room was filled with an eerie silence. 

The interviewer gave the sign to turn off the camera. The interview officially ended. The man thanked them for their time. They walked out of the building, Anne in a daze, registering little of what was going on around her.

How could her mask of stupidity have turned into  _ this _ ?

Kat cleared her throat. 

“Um...I’m going to go for a walk in the park to see the daffodils. Does anyone want to join me?” The invitation was clearly meant for Anne, but the French queen didn’t even feel like wiggling her toes. Seeing this, Anna moved and looped her arm around Kat’s. “Sure, liebling. I’ll come with you. But there better be something cooler than flowers in here.”

Laughing, the two girlfriends set off in the direction of the park. How lucky they were to be able to forget what Anne had just done, at least for the moment. 

Jane smiled as she watched them go. “Actually, I need to go to the store.  _ Somebody  _ tried cooking and ended up wasting all the food.” At this, she pointedly looked in Anne’s direction. “I could use some help.” Again, Anne knew the invitation was meant for her, and she definitely couldn’t be alone with Catherine or Cathy right now, but the beheaded queen couldn’t even bring herself to speak. 

Catherine smiled at Jane. “I’ll come.  _ Somebody  _ ate all of my rice cakes on a dare.” The two women set off with smiles on their faces. 

Which left Anne alone with Cathy, the very woman whose life of domestic abuse she’d just belittled.

How could she have done something like that? 

Without a word, Cathy caught the attention of a taxi driver, and they both got inside. Once inside, however, tears streamed down the sides of Anne’s face. Cathy fixed her with a cold glare, arms crossed across her chest.

“Why the  _ fuck  _ do you think you have the right to cry right now?” Her voice was even colder than her stare. Anne had never even seen her so angry. 

“Because...because I had no idea I was going to say that! I didn’t mean to.”

“You can’t not mean to say something you say. Especially something like  _ that _ .”

“But…” Anne began, but Cathy cut her off. 

“Do you have any  _ idea  _ how many people you belittled and insulted on television? Thousands of survivors and victims and people in dangerous situations are going to be watching that and thinking you don’t care, that just because a family looks good, it is good. They’re going to think that yes, you really are that shallow and insensitive, and because you’re famous, they’re going to take that example. Not only did you act as though everything I said and went through was completely invalid, you could have caused thousands of people to stay in abusive relationships. That’s not a mistake, Anne. That’s  _ massive. _ ”

“Look, Cathy! I’m not excusing what I did. But my brain...it scrambles words and thoughts together when I panic. It’s like a panic attack, but instead of hurting myself, I hurt everyone around me. Everyone assumes I’m just being me, but sometimes...sometimes, when I’m in a deep panic, I really, truly can’t control what I say.”

“Oh, and what were you so panicked about? That your hair might not have been perfect?”

“No, Cathy! I was worried because I’m not what you think I am! I’m not an idiot! I do math for fun and I read deep books and write stories when nobody’s watching, but I’ve never told anyone because I got murdered in my last life for being smart, and I got the first love I’ve ever gotten in this life for being dumb. And I was trying to say something that was the right combination of stupid and respectful, but I got so caught up in worrying about what to say that what came out of my mouth was the last thing I could’ve  _ possibly  _ wanted.”

Out of breath, Anne only realized too late what she had just said. In trying to defend herself, she’d unintentionally told Cathy everything she’d spent months trying to hide.

Cathy stared at her. “Okay, Anne. I hate to tell you this, but if you think trying to hide the fact that you’re smart justifies what you did, then you really are a complete and utter dumbass.”

Anne sighed. “I know it doesn’t. Nothing ever will, but…”

“No,” said Cathy. “No, it won’t.” And she turned to face the window, making it clear that the conversation was over.

And that was when Anne noticed that they were nowhere near their apartment. The scent outside of the windows was not that of tall London buildings, but of green hills and a dirt road. Slowly, Anne turned to Cathy. The two queens stared at each other for a second, fear in their eyes. 

“Um...excuse me, sir, I think we’re going the wrong way. Our apartment is…”

“We aren’t lost.” 

“But…”

“We  _ aren’t  _ lost.”

And suddenly Anne put it all together. The tinted windows, the tiny axe hanging from the mirror, the fact that Anne and Cathy’s seatbelts looked a lot like chains. 

Executioners. Those who hated the queens and lived to cause them pain.

Shit.

No one had seen them go, and they had no idea where they were.

If they hadn’t been fighting, maybe one of them would have noticed. Maybe they could have figured it out in time. 

But they hadn’t.

Instead, they were trapped. They might die. They might never see their family again.

And it was all Anne’s fault.

How could she possibly fix this?   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all the angst! I promise it gets better. But it might get worse first!


	2. It Takes You to Save Us.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If possible, Anne's mistakes have caused an even bigger problem than she could have imagined.  
> How will they ever survive this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains violence, blood, mentions of brain damage, and descriptions of extreme pain.

Anne Boleyn tried her best to calm her pounding head. She didn’t even want to open her eyes because everything seemed too bright. She tried to reach up and feel the back of her head, but her hands were tied. So were her feet. 

She tried to remember where she was and why she was there. Her head hurt. Her wrists were slick with blood. What on Earth was going on?

And in a flash it all came back to her. The interview. What she’d said. Her brain going wild. The taxi. The executioners. The very heavy object hitting her on the back of the head. 

She groaned. This was probably the worst possible situation she could’ve thought of to find herself in. She’d been kidnapped, she couldn’t move, and the one person who could’ve helped her escape hated her. 

Oh God. Cathy. She wasn’t there. Anne had expected her to be somewhere nearby, but her room was empty and cold. 

She had to find her. Anne and Cathy hadn’t been this close to the executioners themselves before, but Anne had heard stories from Kat, Anna, and Jane, and she knew how dangerous they were. Having Cathy be trapped in a cell exactly like hers was the best possible scenario. 

The worst...Anne didn’t even want to think about the worst. 

She rolled over on the floor, trying to get a look at the door. It was no use. The room was too dark.

Suddenly, light poured into the room from behind her. Even facing away from the light, she winced, temporarily blinded by the brightness, fighting spots out of her vision. 

She heard voices, and they made her head hurt.

“ _ This  _ is your brilliant idea?!”

“Of course we won’t be able to fix her, she may be the only one who can.”

“And if we can’t?”

“God, why did I hire such a goddamn  _ idiot _ ?”

Anne was able to identify the second voice as much higher than the first, but only had a second to identify the voices before rough hands grabbed her arms and yanked them above her head. She only had a second to register that before her legs were being dragged roughly over a smooth floor, which she hadn’t thought was possible. She felt her body being swung upwards and flung through another doorway, which slammed shut behind her. Before she could even roll over, the door opened again, and another warm body was flung in next to her. 

A whip cracked on her back, and Anne felt the warm stickiness of her own blood. A foot jabbed her in the side, and she rolled over onto her back. She found herself staring up at a woman in black, who was looking coldly down at her.

“Fix her.”

And she left the room, slamming the door shut and delivering a final kick to Anne’s side before she exited.    
As quickly as she could with her hands and feet bound, Anne jerked herself up onto her knees and crawled over to the body that was lying on the floor. With her hands moving jerkily, she did her best to roll the body over so it was facing her. 

Her blood ran cold. 

She’d thought the bump and her head and the cuts on her wrists and her back were bad, but they were nothing compared to what she saw on Catherine Parr’s face. 

Cathy had a long cut running up one side of her face, and bruises all along her other jawline, as well as (Anne shuddered) on her neck. Like Anne’s, her wrists were slick with blood, and there was blood soaking through the back of her shirt. 

Anne felt rage coursing through her veins. They had  _ hurt  _ her. Her girl. She knew Cathy hated her, but that didn’t change the fact that yes, she could finally admit it, Anne felt a deep, overwhelming love for her. Regardless of whether Cathy felt the same way, Anne cared deeply for her. And she had a deep desire to destroy anyone who even laid a finger on her. 

But then Cathy opened her eyes. And though she hadn’t thought it possible, her fear grew even deeper.

One of Catherine Parr’s defining traits had always been her cleverness. She was sharp and quick-witted, and she valued knowledge above almost all else. A person meeting her for the first time may not realize just how clever she was. But one could always tell by the sharpness that lived deep in the centers of her eyes. They always seemed to be teeming with knowledge, a little extra twinkle out of the deep brown and black. 

Anne had loved that sharpness, that extra twinkle. It was always there. 

But now it was gone somehow, replaced with a cloudiness that was undetectable to anyone who didn’t know Cathy Parr. But to Anne, it was unnerving. She looked like a completely different person. 

Cathy stared up at Anne, wide-eyed and looking terrified.

“Who are you? Where am I? Why can’t I move? What’s going on?”

Anne froze. 

“Why is it so dark?”

Anne sighed. She had...not expected to find herself in this position. But she certainly wasn’t going to leave Cathy like this. Though it seemed Cathy had no idea who she was, she vowed to try and help her as best as she could. When she spoke, she spoke as slowly and soothingly as she could while her voice was trembling. 

“Cathy? Do you know your name?”

“I...I think so?”

“Alright, that’s what I’m going to call you now. Is that okay?”

“I guess so?” 

“Okay. Look, Cathy. I know you might not be comfortable being touched right now, but I need to get a look at your head. My hands are tied, like yours, but I’m going to put them under your neck and lift your head up. You’re probably not going to be able to sit on your own, so I want you to  _ please  _ lean on me. Okay?”

Cathy stared up at her. To her horror, Anne saw more blood pooling out of the back of her head, tinting her gorgeous dark brown curls red. God, she hoped the head damage wasn’t serious, that the memory loss would go away. She didn’t know what she’d do if Cathy had been hurt permanently because of her carelessness. 

“How do I know I can trust you?”

Anne sighed. Even with her memories, Cathy wouldn’t trust her. But, in the world’s sick, twisted way, Cathy was being forced to trust her now, with no idea of what truting Anne Boleyn really meant. 

“You don’t. You don’t know anything. You probably shouldn’t even trust me. I’ve done so much stupid shit. I’ve hurt you, I’ve hidden my feelings from you, I’ve belittled your pain and I’ve disrespected you a thousand times. There have probably been dozens of times where you’ve wished not to have me in your life. But I’m here now and I...I love you. I may be far from trustworthy, but I’m the best thing you have right now. Please, please just let me get your head off that floor.”

Cathy looked right into Anne’s eyes, her face full of fear, her lip trembling. Anne could only imagine what it would be like to be Cathy, in a dark room tied up with a stranger, with no idea of anything except her own name, and barely even that. 

But despite all that, she still nodded her head. As gently as she could, Anne moved her hands underneath Cathy’s head, shuddering at the blood that trickled between her fingers. Slowly, she tilted Cathy up until the sixth queen was laying on her lap, head in Anne’s arms. It looked like she’d been hit really hard, and Anne had no way of assessing the real damage. 

God, she wished Cathy would stop staring up at her with that clouded, confused look in her eyes. It was absolutely unnerving. 

“Please. I don’t know who you are. But...I need to know who I am and what’s going on. Can you give me that?”

Anne almost laughed at how messed up the whole thing was. It was so unfair. If anyone was going to lose their memories, it should’ve been her. Her brain was messed up anyway. 

“All right. I’m just going to talk for a while. That usually fails, but here goes nothing because at this point what have I got to lose?” She took a deep breath. “Your name is Catherine Parr. You were born in 1512. You were a writer and a feminist and a protestant. You were married to a really old king who you didn’t like, but then he died and you had a daughter, but then you died. The thing is, you came back. We all did. And now you’re still a writer, but I know you so much more than before. You’re funny and compassionate and clever. You’re the smartest person I’ve ever met, but you’re so much more than that. You’re resilient and determined and loyal. You’re the best friend I could ever ask for, and I’ve never said this before but what the hell, I’ll try anything at this point. I think I love you. Not as a friend, but as something else. And I know you hate me and don’t reciprocate those feelings, but I wanted to tell you that. And I figured what better time than when we’re about to die and never see the world again, right? Oh, and about that, some evil people who want to kill us have kidnapped us and we’re about to be murdered.” 

Cathy stared at Anne. Anne stared back at her, breathing hard.

Had she really just said that? It had happened again, the words coming out without thinking.

But it was her. It was something that Cathy knew, something that was real.    
Could it possibly be the thing that saved her?

Anne looked directly into the centers of Cathy’s eyes. Was it her imagination? Were the clouds clearing? Was that extra spark of quick wit coming back?

“Anne?”

Anne nearly collapsed to the floor with relief. Cathy was here. She remembered. She knew who she was. The French queen wrapped her arms around the final wife and squeezed.

“Ow! Bruises all over me, remember?!”

“Oh. Right!” 

Anne wasn’t sure what she would’ve done next. Maybe she would’ve laughed. Maybe she would’ve cried. But she never got the chance. 

The door opened, spilling blinding light into the room. The woman in black entered, two men behind her, each holding a loaded gun. The woman stared down at them, a look of malice in her eyes.

“Take her.”

The two men grabbed Anne by the arms. One of them used the handle of his gun to strike her on the head. The room spun. Stars danced in front of her eyes.

She couldn’t be taken away like this. If she and Cathy had any chance of surviving this, they needed to stay together. So, on instinct, she did the thing that had gotten her into this mess in the first place.

As she slowly felt the world slipping away, Anne Boleyn tried very very hard to be smart. She did some math. And as her vision went completely black and she felt the sort of maybe love of her life getting farther and farther away, she yelled the words she could only pray the writer would understand. 

“Four and a half.”

When she woke up, Anne was in a soft chair. Her arms and legs were strapped to it, and there was a heavy chain around her neck that was forcing her head to tilt backwards. It hurt. 

The two men were moving around the dark room, each holding big knives with looks of malice on their faces. 

She tried to speak, but her voice came out as a tremble instead. 

“What are you going to do to me?”

The man on the left smiled coldly. If she’d ever forgotten how cruel these people were, she wasn’t going to forget again. 

“See these knives here?”

Anne got the distinct feeling that she was supposed to nod, so she did, as best as she could with the chains around her neck.

“Well, these knives have a special kind of poison on them. The kind that causes pain.”

Anne shivered. She knew where this was going.

“Do you think you’d like to feel some of that pain?”

“No.” The word was out of Anne’s mouth before she could stop it. The man on the right gave her a terrifying grin. 

“Well, that’s too bad.”

And he drove the blade right into her gut.

Anne had been beheaded. She knew pain. But it hadn’t prepared her for this. Her eyes filled with tears. She didn’t know she was screaming until she heard her own voice echoing in the dark room.

The man on the left raised his blade directly above her heart. She closed her eyes. 

She heard two cracks and a thud. She opened her eyes.

Catherine Parr was standing above her.

Anne tried to smile, but found herself unable to through the pain. So she whispered.

“Four and a half.”

Cathy smiled. “Four and a half. The diameter of the circle I needed to kick that woman’s whip in for it to hit her right in the head.”

Anne was too exhausted and in too much pain to say more. But Cathy didn’t pressure her, simply watched over her as she gently cut the bonds tying Anne to the chair and unlocked the chain with the keys she scooped off of the floor. But after that, Cathy gave her a concerned glance.

“Anne, I think I have to carry you.”

Still too weak to speak, the second queen could only nod, so she did. 

As Cathy scooped her up in her arms, Anne groaned as pain shot through her again.

“It...really hurts.”

“I know. But it won’t be like this forever.”

And Cathy carried her. Up the stairs and out of the building. They stood on the front steps. Cathy looked around for anything that might tell them where they were.

“Cathy?”

“Yeah?”

“You saved me.”

Cathy stared at her. “Of course I did, Anne.”

“No. I...I made a terrible mistake. I ruined everything. And then I went and ruined it some more.” It was so much talking that Anne had to say it all in a whisper, but Cathy heard her anyway. 

“Anne, everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes big ones. But at the end of the day, those mistakes aren’t what matter. What matters is that you, Anne Boleyn, are very much worth saving. And...I love you.”

Anne’s eyes popped open. “Do you mean…”

“Yes, I do.”

“You’re not just trying to keep me alive?”

“Would I ever manipulate you like that?”

The grey sky began to sprinkle rain onto the two queens, washing away their blood. 

Anne smiled at Cathy. Cathy smiled back.

She didn't remember much after that until the hospital. But she remembered Cathy’s hand squeezing her own. 

She remembered Cathy’s lips softly brushing her forehead as she drifted into a peaceful sleep.


End file.
